Disability

Sophisticated urine analysis of employees on workers' comp could become a bulwark in the fight to control the epidemic use and abuse of narcotics.

It should come as no real surprise, considering today's economy and aging workforce, that the numbers of unemployed and disabled Americans is rising. According to a recent study by Allsup, a Social Security disability provider, unemployment for people with disabilities continued to significantly outpace the unemployment rate for other workers throughout 2010.

Disability discrimination skyrocketed in 2010, according to the EEOC. Experts pin the blame on the broadening definition of "disabled" by the ADA Amendments Act, and -- on a smaller scale -- the loss of jobs in the economic downturn.

It's long been believed that obesity adversely affects the workers' comp process. A pair of reports shed new insight on the effects of obesity on workplace injuries and may offer ideas for better managing these claims.

Employee-benefits consultants play an increasingly critical role in human resources, risk management and compliance. Winners of the Risk & Insurance® and Human Resource Executive® Top Employee Benefits Consultant Award will be profiled in the June issue of R&I and the June 16 issue of HRE.

A year-in-review of the federal workforce finds that management issues remained at the forefront throughout 2010 as agencies struggled to implement several initiatives designed to improve hiring and increase the representation of people with disabilities and veterans in the federal workforce.

Are there problems in your early return-to-work program? And, if so, where are you likely to find them? The search -- and making the necessary corrections -- should involve the HR leader as well as the risk manager, legal counsel, and others.

The Wyoming Supreme Court ruled that a man's former employer is responsible for a 2007 medical condition because it was related to treatment for a 1993 workplace injury. While that already is the situation in some states, it is not in others -- although their courts or regulatory agencies may start seeing claims with such arguments popping up.

Several recent reports underscore an increasing need for employers to do everything they can to ensure they are not discriminating against disabled workers and applicants.

Recognizing their strengths, employers embrace workers with Asperger's Syndrome.

When his third child, Lars, was 3 years old, Thorkil Sonne learned that the boy suffered from an autism spectrum disorder called Asperger's syndrome. Devastated by the diagnosis, Sonne, a Danish telecommunications veteran, got involved in various social-service groups for people with autism.